Five Floridian plaintiffs have filed a class action lawsuit challenging the Chinese governmentโs handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
The coronavirus class action lawsuit was filed by Logan Alters, Marta Reyes, Lawrence Wood, Stephen Clyne, and The Pitching Lab, also known as TBT Training.
The five plaintiffs argue that it was due, at least in part, to the Chinese governmentโs mishandling of the coronavirus outbreak that the issue turned into a worldwide pandemic.
They seek to represent two Classes of people affected by the outbreak โ a Class of all those in the United States affected by the outbreak, and a subclass of parties in Florida affected by the outbreak.
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None of the plaintiffs have caught the coronavirus, but according to the pandemic class action lawsuit, they were still injured by the outbreak.
The coronavirus class action claims that people throughout the state of Florida, and people throughout the country were injured even if they have not been infected. They say the virus has taken an economic toll on the United States, and has caused panic, emotional distress and other injuries throughout the country.
Specifically, the plaintiffs have filed claims against the Peopleโs Republic of China, the National Health Commission of the Peopleโs Republic of China, Ministry of Emergency Management of the Peopleโs Republic of China, the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the Peopleโs Republic of China, the Peopleโs Government of Hubei Province, and the Peopleโs Government of City of Wuhan, China.
These governmental bodies were reportedly in charge of overseeing the response to the coronavirus pandemic in China, and within the city of Wuhan in the Hubei Province, where the outbreak originated.ย
The Floridians note that it has not been confirmed how the outbreak spread to what it is today, but regardless, the Chinese government did not handle the issue correctly. They also claim that their actions allowed many people around the world to be affected.ย
The coronavirus class action lawsuit states that a new strain of the virus, known as COVID-19 originated in China in December 2019, and quickly spread throughout the world.ย
The Floridians present one theory alleging that COVID-19 spread from a bio-weapon lab and then into a nearby marketplace. Allegedly, there are only two bio-weapon labs in the Peopleโs Republic of China, and one of them is the National Biosafety Laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
According to the coronavirus pandemic class action lawsuit, this laboratory is close to the marketplace where COVID-19 originated. This laboratory is reportedly Chinaโs only โlevel 4โ microbiology lab, dealing with โthe deadliest of viruses.โ
The COVID-19 outbreak states that one theory is that COVID-19 escaped from the Wuhan lab because of lax security, or because Chinese researchers unlawfully sold lab animals to the marketplace nearby.
Researchers in China have allegedly been known to do this instead of cremating them, as is required by Chinese law.
No matter how the disease spread, the Florida residents argue the Chinese government did not respond appropriately to the outbreak.
Allegedly, the government put the safety of people around the world at risk, choosing instead to act โfrom their own self interestโ and to โprotect their place as a super-power.โ
The government did not report the outbreak as quickly as they could have, underreported cases, and did not contain the outbreak effectively, even though they knew how serious the outbreak was, the plaintiffs say.
Elaborating on these allegations, the Floridians argue that the Chinese government censored eight doctors on Jan. 1, 2020 from speaking about the outbreak and the danger associated with it. The coronavirus outbreak class action argues that even after the first person died of a COVID-19 infection on the same day, the government concealed the true dangers of the coronavirus.
The plaintiffs state that the Chinese government told the public the outbreak was under control. However, the government allegedly knew the virus was spread easily from human to human by Jan. 3 but concealed this information until Jan. 20, by which point the disease had already spread beyond China.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said he had taken measures to contain the virus on Jan. 7, but he reportedly lied in saying this, and did not take steps to contain the virus until later in the month.
Additionally, the Florida residents argue that the Chinese government waited 17 days to share the 19 genome sequence of coronavirus with peers around the world, after it had been discovered by Chinese researchers.
The plaintiffs claim that the Chinese government downplayed the severity of the virus by saying that deaths associated with coronavirus were instead caused by pneumonia.ย
The coronavirus response class action lawsuit says that this has caused injury to United States and potential Floridian Class Members not only in the form of infection by the virus, but in the form of fear, lost social contact, financial injury, emotional distress, and more.ย
The Class Members are represented by Matthew T. Moore and Vincent J. Duffy of The Law Offices of Berman & Berman PA.
The Coronavirus Outbreak Class Action Lawsuit is Logan Alters, et al. v. Peopleโs Republic of China, et al., Case No. 1:20-cv-21108-UU, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Miami Division.
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305 thoughts onCoronavirus Class Action Blames China for Pandemic
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My wife and I are 70+ and have multiple health issues. We donโt leave our house and have no way of getting groceries etc.
Its very difficult to stay locked inside not knowing what will happen next, will we have food, toiletries enough medicine?
Lost money with my personal shopper business due to clients fearing the virus and no stock in stores to complete orders
Please add me. Lost money through stock market crash and my 401k savings.
Our job cut the amount of hours we can have, wife stuck at home with the kids, for school closing and last Friday we had a half a day of work. Plus the panic going around Cleveland Ohio, my family was unable to buy toilet paper and a mask.
Please add me. I work in a hospital. They announced that you are not allowed to have more than 25 people in am enclosed room at one time. There are two departments which do not have a break room. They closed the cafeteria which has forced the employees to use their break room for lunch breaks. With both departments on lunch at the same time in this break room, there are 25-30 people in this room at one time. This break room belongs to a totally different department. And we are not offered a mask to wear when going into any of the patients rooms. We are told that we donโt stay in the room long enough with the patients. Thankfully we donโt have to go into the patients rooms where the Corona virus patients are. But itโs still scary for us. Weโre afraid because if a Dr or a nurse was in the room of the patient with this virus, how do we know if the patient sneezed or coughed a minute before they entered the room, & there are particles floating around that couldโve landed on their hair or clothes? If we donโt have a mask on & the nurse or Dr walks past us, we feel that we could bump them or breathe in the particles that are left on their hair or clothes.
lost about 100 thousand in market
living with the stress of the unknow
sleep less nights
anxiety every day
All of the substitute teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District have been forced to take 2 weeks off without pay, unlike all other employees of the district who will be paid. I work everyday 5 days a week and this time off without pay will be in addition to the week and 1 day off (no pay) totally at least 3 weeks without pay. This is a great hardship to us as many Americans are only 1 paycheck away from dire circumstances.
Please add me. I have a very low immune system. I cannot go anywhere. I have extreme anxiety. My granddaughter is no longer able to go to school at least until April 15. I used to have an outlet of shooting pool, but the fl governor shut all the bars down for the next 30 days. This has become truly alarming when a Dr. Tried to report it and they wouldnโt let him and then he was the first to die from it.
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I work construction I mainly do HVAC systems my work has come to a complete halt because most of the work I was doing was in schools and hospitals. I have a family of five. As of this moment I am not completely sure how Iโm going to feed my family pay my bills or anything else. If there is any kind of relief out there please advise me.